1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus administration system in which at least one image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine, or similar image forming apparatus, and a service terminal are connected through a communication line. The present invention is further related to the control of a display of the image forming apparatus during a communication process with the service terminal.
2. Discussion of Background
As an example of an image forming apparatus administration system, a system is known in which an image forming apparatus such as a copier can be connected to a service terminal, which for example may be installed in a service center, utilizing a communication line, such as a public line or the like.
With this type of image forming apparatus administration system, an operator of the image forming apparatus can transmit a request, such as a repair request and a request of a need for consumption articles such as sheets of paper and toner, to the service terminal by inputting a transmission command from keys on an operation panel of the image forming apparatus. If the image forming apparatus cannot be connected to the service terminal, a subsequent attempt to establish communication may be made.
In this type of system, the operator of the image forming apparatus can go to the keyboard of the image forming apparatus and enter a communication mode to connect to the service terminal via the communication line. In this system after the operator inputs a request at the image forming apparatus, for example at a keypad or a display at the image forming apparatus, the request is then sent to the service terminal through the communication line. In this instance the operator must then wait for a response to this request from the service terminal before the image forming apparatus can be utilized for an image forming operation.
That is, in this system after the request is issued from the image forming apparatus to the service terminal through the communication line, the image forming apparatus cannot execute image forming operations until a response to this request is issued from the service terminal and is then communicated from the service terminal through the communication line to and received at the image forming apparatus. This results in an inefficient use and unnecessary downtime in the operation of the image forming apparatus.